Michael Whaley

Name: Michael Whaley

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Grade: 12th

School: Aurora High School

Hobbies and Interests: Varsity football, varsity basketball, varsity baseball, working with the deaf

Appearance: At 6'2", 215 pounds, Mike Whaley presents an imposing figure. He has short, straight light brown hair, brown eyes, and a straight pointed nose of medium size. His body is very stocky and muscular from working out and his skin is light. He normally wears jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers, along with a long sleeved shirt of some kind if it's cold out. The right side of his mouth is normally curled up in a smirk, as if there's a constant joke that only he understands. On the day he was abducted, Mike was wearing blue jeans and white high-top sneakers as well as a plain brown T-shirt under a navy blue fleece vest.

Biography: Michael Whaley was born to two loving parents in Seattle on August 8, 1993. His father was a well-paid professor at Seattle University, while his mother worked at the Northwest School for the Deaf, making them decently wealthy. All in all, the Whaleys were a normal, loving family unit, but with one important twist that shaped Mike's life: Mr. and Mrs. Whaley were deaf from birth - Mrs. Whaley due to pregnancy complications, and Mr. Whaley due to a congenital hearing defect, while Mike himself had inherited his mother's genes was able to hear perfectly due to a relatively smooth pregnancy. While Mike's parents had the ability to understand English by reading lips, they were much more comfortable using American Sign Language. As such, they were able to teach Mike sign language, but needed some assistance teaching him spoken English, which he fully learned. As a result, Mike used to sign at every opportunity, however as he learned to speak English, he has since toned this down to when it was necessary to speak in ASL and whenever he was became nervous, the latter being a habit he is trying to stop.

Michael was always a big, boisterous kid, hanging out with the other athletic kids. He preferred and showed skill in physical games, using physical force when playing games, sometimes more than necessary. All in all, though, he was and still is a friendly guy. Over elementary school he joined the Little League where he showed good skill. In middle school, Mike started playing football, showing good skill at tackling and becoming an excellent strong side safety, as well as basketball, being an excellent center.

When Mike joined Aurora High, he started volunteering at the Northwest School for the Deaf, at his mother's suggestion for an after-school activity outside of sports, assisting in tutoring the grade-school children after school as well as helping out during various intramural sports with those same children every Friday, always ready to start up a flag football or basketball game among the kids. It started out as something he did because of his mother, but he eventually grew to like it in its own right. He also joined the football, baseball and basketball teams, working his way up to starting strong-side safety, second baseman, and center, respectively, as well as basketball and baseball captain.

Because he is a child of deaf adults, Mike sometimes has to act as the proverbial ears for his parents. Mostly, this involves translating spoken English to ASL and vice versa so that those that do not speak with the deaf can understand them. While initially and occasionally bothersome and frustrating, he has gotten used to it when he goes out with his family. He has a couple aunts and uncles that can hear that he talks to on occasional visits, but it is relatively few and far between that he gets to do so. As a result, at home, when around his mother and father, he always has is hands out, translating any necessary speech to ASL.

Currently, Mike hangs out with the jocks. He's a relatively laid-back person who loves to hang out with his friends, and he prefers to not get in physical altercations, although it still happens sometimes. He does decently in school, getting a B average in his classes, preferring English and History. At home, he has a normal relationship with his parents: they don't necessarily communicate as much now, but they are still on good terms. Mike is somewhat closer to his mother, as he always ends up at the deaf school with her on Fridays, but Mike also talks to his father, watching some football games with together, using closed captions to assist Mike and Mr. Whaley. Mike's work with the deaf and his family situation are less of a secret and more of something he does not feel it is necessary to mention in most cases.

Over the winter, Mike got accepted to the University of Washington, which he will be attending in the fall. He does not know what major he will take, nor does he know what job field he wishes to go into, choosing to make a decision about those when he has taken a few courses, although he knows he wishes to go into a more qualitative field, rather than one revolving around math and science.

Advantages: Due to playing on sports teams, Mike is very athletic, having good strength, endurance and speed. Living with deaf parents and volunteering at a school for the deaf has made him very good at American Sign Language, and nonverbal communication in general. He's a fairly nice guy, so he would have an easier time than others in making allies.

Disadvantages: When he gets nervous, he tends to speak in sign language, which can be quite unwieldy if he's holding a weapon or if the person he's talking to does not speak ASL. Furthermore, his large frame makes him an easy target for an attacker, making a stealthy approach difficult to pull off.

Designated Number: Male student No. 053

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Designated Weapon: H&K MP7

Conclusion: Well, this is certainly one to watch. Especially his hands. Because the whole gun thing. And, you know, sign language. That sounded better in my head. - Andrew Denning

'The above biography is as written by decoy73. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: decoy73

Kills:  None

Killed By:  Amaranta Montalvo

Collected Weapons: H&K MP7 (designated weapon, Amaranta Montalvo)

Allies:

Enemies:  Amaranta Montalvo

Mid-game Evaluation: Mike awoke on the streets of the southern town and spent some time wandering around after findng his gun. He came upon a face-off between Miranda Millers, Veronica McDonald, and Mara Montalvo, Mike tried to question the girls about what was going on and advocate a team-up, but Mara quickly left, leaving Mike to try and mediate between Veronica and Miranda. After a while, Miranda left too, and Mike and Veronica made their way out to the town.

Sometime between then and nightfall, Mike and Veronica split up, and Mike ended up at the lighthouse. After discovering the body of Dan Liu, he entered the lighthouse to find Mara again, along with an unconscious Hansel Williams. Mara claimed that Hansel had attacked her and tried to leave, but Mike attempted to convince her to stay and talk things over. Mara didn't want to listen, despite Mike's assurances that he could protect her if Hansel woke up and tried to attack them, and this, combined with Mike's increasing unease at Mara's attitude, caused an argument.

When Mike noticed that Mara had Hansel's bag instead of her own, he tried to physically keep her from leaving. Trying to fight back, Mara lost her balance and fell, and when Mike ran over to see if she was okay, she lashed out at him, stabbing him in the neck with a shard of glass.

Post-Game Evaluation: Eh, at least that gun went to someone who actually has the guts to use it. - Matt Richards

Memorable Quotes:

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Michael, in chronological order.

Pre-Game:
 * A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks

V5:
 * Last Days
 * Decathect

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Michael Whaley. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''
 * If I can say anything about Mike's character, it's that he really did try to play mediator. In Mike's first pre-game thread he stays out of the conflict and focuses on working out. The evolution to hero on the island was an admirable one. Upon awakening, Mike found himself embroiled in conflict between three combatitive girls  who'd already had bad blood between them. Despite being assigned a gun, Mike never raised his gun in violence. Though he never had a full plan on the how, he knew what he wanted to avoid. Unfortunately, Mike never developed much of a powerful voice, and was unable to quell the feud in his first would-be alliance. However, he'd get another chance to make a friend . By that point in the girl's development, she was beyond simple soothsaying. Mike died trying to help everyone, throwing himself in harm's way to try and save the virtual stranger. Mike was a succint character with a clear direction. My only criticism would be that besides Mike's heroic goals, we didn't see much else about him. The interactions on the island were very limited. Even his death thread focused more on the precipitating action prior to his arrival. Otherwise, Decoy73 wrote Mike pretty well. Brevity did leave me wanting more, however. -Shangela
 * Mike was never the strongest of Decoy's children, lacking both a strong personality owned by Kat and the amount of time contriputed to Zubin, and that shows. The death scene feels very reluctant and tries to make Mike sympatheitc, but we don't know enough for that to work. I can't comment on him much otherwise, as there isn't a whole lot to go off. - Un-Persona